PHI 2397 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: John Stuart Mill, Consequentialism, Fecundity

• School: University of Ottawa
• Department: Philosophy
• Course: PHI 2397
• Professor: Sardar Hosseini

Document Summary

Chapter 2: utilitarianism: jeremy bentham (1748-1832, john stuart mill (1806-1873) Consequently, the emphasis in utilitarianism is on producing consequences, not having good intentions or focusing on action itself. Elements (theses) of utilitarianism: consequentialism: the rightness/ wrongness of actions are sole determined by their consequences. We ofte(cid:374) speak of (cid:862)utilita(cid:396)ia(cid:374)(cid:863) solutio(cid:374)s i(cid:374) a dispa(cid:396)agi(cid:374)g to(cid:374)e, (cid:271)ut i(cid:374) fa(cid:272)t utilita(cid:396)ia(cid:374)is(cid:373) is a demanding moral position that often asks us to put aside self- interest for the sake of the whole. Utilitarianism is a morally demanding position for two reasons: it always asks us to do the most, to maximize utility, not to do the minimum, it asks us to set aside personal interest. Be(cid:374)tha(cid:373)"s utilita(cid:396)ia(cid:374)is(cid:373) is hedo(cid:374)isti(cid:272) (cid:271)e(cid:272)ause it assu(cid:373)es that the (cid:396)ight(cid:374)ess of a(cid:374) a(cid:272)tio(cid:374) depends entirely on the amount of pleasure it tends to produce and the amount of pain it tends to prevent.